


fifty cent spiderman

by asiannoodles



Category: VICTON (Band)
Genre: Comedy, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Romance, Shenanigans, byungchan is big shit, stupid stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:07:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24105685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asiannoodles/pseuds/asiannoodles
Summary: Sejun loves kids with cancer, he swears.
Relationships: Choi Byungchan/Im Sejun
Comments: 10
Kudos: 56





	fifty cent spiderman

_ “No thanks?” _

Sejun looks up from his phone and up to the cashier who’s staring at him with eyes filled with disbelief and offense. The cashier looks so confused, and maybe even angry, that Sejun wonders if he has said anything wrong. He blinks. All he’s doing is holding his hand out to receive his food. He doesn’t remember really making conversation. It’s quiet as Sejun only stares back at the cashier in confusion. What had the cashier said?

_ Would you like your receipt? _

_ Yeah, sure. _

_ Great! And would you like to make a donation to the children’s hospital cancer research center? _

_ Uh, no thanks, not today. _

Sejun blinks again. That can’t possibly be it. The heavy seconds of silence are so awkward that he has to break it, but all he can think to say is, “Sorry, what did I say?”

The cashier’s frown deepens as his hand tightens around Sejun’s receipt like it’s leverage. “You said _ no thanks?” _ he repeats with a withering gaze. “You...  _ don’t  _ want to donate to the children’s hospital cancer research center?”

“Oh.” Sejun feels his open palm go clammy. “Yeah, sorry, I just don’t--”

“Don’t what? Care about children who suffer from cancer?”

“No, I just--!”

“Just don’t feel like  _ wasting  _ your money on some poor, innocent children?”

_ What is happening-- _

Sejun sucks in his lips and feels his brain go completely empty. He doesn’t know what to say--or what he  _ can  _ say--without feeling guilty. Looking at the cashier’s name tag, he tries to speak again, slowly saying, “Look, uh... _ Byungchan.” _

_ “Yes?” _ Byungchan’s reply is quick and void of any amusement. His voice is challenging and it makes Sejun forget what he’s going to say (if he had anything ready to say at all.)

“Um.” He’s blanking out. Luckily, there’s nobody else in line, but, because there’s nobody else in line, this cashier named Byungchan can take his sweet time staring Sejun down with his judgement filled eyes and disappointed frown. “I don’t want a hard time, I just wanted my lunch.”

Byungchan pouts this time and if Sejun didn’t feel so strangely in fear for his life, he would think that it was pretty cute. Cute pout aside, he can’t feel his heart flutter when it’s pounding with nerves. “Well, children with cancer want to have lunch too.”

Sejun flushes and stammers, “I-I’m sure they receive lunch--!”

“Yeah, clearly with the money you’re  _ not  _ donating to them.”

“I--”

“Because you hate them.”

“I love kids with cancer, I swear!”

“And yet you won’t even donate so that they can have better, easier lives?” Byungchan looks at him in disgust and shakes his head. He lets out a sharp sigh before he pulls the friendly smile Sejun recognizes back onto his face. “Well. Here’s your lunch and your receipt.”

_ What a drastic change, _ Sejun thinks to himself as he finally receives his lunch in his hands.

“Your change is fifty cents.”

“Thanks.” But then Sejun blinks down at the few coins in his hand and feels himself go warm in the ears because he didn’t think he would have change at all. He wasn’t planning to carry a couple useless coins with him (the sound of coins clinking together in his jacket pocket was already driving him crazy) but when he eyes the tip jar in front of the fiery cashier, he feels his fingers twitch.

Byungchan’s smile falls again as he watches him. “You’re  _ not,” _ he warns.

Sejun sucks in air through his teeth and replies, “Listen, I--”

“You’re going to  _ tip me _ fifty cents,” Byungchan interrupts, unamused, “when you could have  _ donated  _ it?” 

“I’m sorry, okay!” Sejun exclaims. “I promise, I love kids with cancer just as much as I love kids without it!” 

_ “So you say. _ But you haven’t donated a single penny to them and instead you’re giving your change to  _ me.” _

_ “Look, _ I’m  _ sorry, _ okay! I didn’t want to donate and now I don’t want my change--but do you want me to donate a measly fifty cents?!” 

Byungchan clicks his tongue and just shakes his head dramatically (for some reason Sejun doesn’t feel too offended).  _ “Look, listen _ \--is that all you know how to say? Fifty cents can do a lot for a kid. You just hate them or something, _ I don’t know,”  _ he sniffs. 

“You’re being very aggressive towards me.”

“I could say the same.”

“I’m going to talk to your manager.”

“I am the manager.” 

“No you’re not.”

“Look around, do you see anyone besides me?” 

Begrudgingly, Sejun glances around behind the counter that Byungchan is working at and remembers quickly that not only had Byungchan taken his order, but he had made and packaged up his food also. “Well… then I guess I’m… talking to you… then.” 

“Thank you for that,” Byungchan says with a grimace. “I’m being very diplomatic and calm for a manager, just so you know.”

Sejun knows he’s not the manager. But yet somehow, he can’t bring himself to actually threaten to call higher ups because, really, it would be a waste of his time. That, and maybe he’s actually starting to feel bad about not donating.

He sighs heavily as he hands the change back towards Byungchan. “Here. Use this and consider it my donation towards the children’s hospital.”

“Wow, you’re only donating fifty cents.”

“You!” Sejun gasps in betrayal. “You’re the one who said fifty cents is better than nothing!”

“Yeah but your fifty cents is an afterthought,” Byungchan retorts hastily. “Which means these kids are an afterthought.” He shakes his head. “Scum.” 

“I’m not scum.”

“Well, you’re not doing a great job of convincing me of that.” 

“I don’t have to--! Okay, I can’t just stand here and argue with you!”

Byungchan raises his eyebrow and, dripping with sarcasm, he comments, “And here I thought you had all day.” 

Sejun sighs in exasperation and massages his temples, trying to savor what’s left of his lunch break (and his sanity.) “Just take my fifty cents. I’ll make it up to you and kids with cancer some other way, okay? I swear.”

“Really.”

“Yes.”

“You swear?” 

“Yes, okay! If it means I can eat my lunch and still get back to my shift on time then I’ll do anything!” 

Byungchan smiles. “Anything?”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Sejun knows that he said he would do anything. He knows that he should have expected something crazy when Byungchan had asked him for his number and made him promise to not make plans on his next free day.

But what he definitely doesn’t expect is to be standing in front of a children’s hospital on a Saturday, balloons in one hand and a tote bag filled with gifts in the other while he wears a poorly fit, uncomfortably itchy, vaguely discolored Spiderman costume that’s too tight in all the wrong places.

Sejun stares at his warped reflection on the side of Byungchan’s car and thinks about how hard he’s been hitting the gym lately and how this does not reflect his progress at all.  _ Don’t lose your confidence, _ he reminds himself as he stares into the big eyes of the mask he wears.

He hears a click and a whir behind him and when he turns around, Byungchan is there with a small polaroid camera, grinning at him. 

Sejun frowns behind his mask. “No pictures, please.” 

“You look great!” he says, unblinking. For some reason, Sejun thinks he’s being sarcastic.

“I look stupid,” Sejun replies, his words muffled by the flimsy cloth that keeps entering his mouth whenever he breathes. 

“Oh, nonsense.” Byungchan smiles harder as he fans the polaroid in the air and then shoves it into his front shirt pocket. “You look fine. Follow me.”

“You know,” Sejun says as he follows, “this wasn’t really what I was expecting when I said I would make it up to you. I thought maybe just making a bigger donation or something--” 

Byungchan laughs as they enter through the glass, sliding doors. “Consider this your donation. The labor of love is much more effective than money anyways, isn’t it?”

“Not sure how wearing a gross Spiderman costume counts as labor of love,” Sejun replies as they approach the reception desk.

“It’s not gross, it cost me fifty cents,” Byungchan defends. “And besides, kids love Spiderman. I promised Spiderman would come surprise them for a few weeks now.”

“Okay, so how come  _ you're  _ not the one in Spiderman suit.”

Byungchan looks over his shoulder and smiles so brightly, Sejun thinks he’s been stunned for a moment. “They would recognize me,” he says simply. “And also, I don’t fit the costume. Hi, Seungsik!”

The receptionist breaks out into a happy smile as he looks up and sees Byungchan, and when his eyes flicker towards Sejun, he only seems confused for about a second before he’s saying, “Byungchan! I was wondering when you and your guest would be arriving!”

“I’m a little late today,” Byungchan apologizes as he writes his and Sejun’s name down on a visitor information sheet. “But that’s because I was picking up Spiderman, here!” 

“Hello, Spiderman,” the receptionist (Seungsik, Sejun assumes) says towards him. He logs something into the desk computer and then also scribbles down on some stickers that say  _ Visitor  _ on them. “The kids have been waiting a long time to see you. So glad you could take time out of your busy crime fighting schedule to pay us a visit.”

“I almost thought he wouldn’t be able to come,” Byungchan says, casting a sly smile at Sejun. “But I got lucky.” 

“It would seem so,” Seungsik chuckles. “Oh, should I put Sejun on his sticker or--”

“Spiderman.”

“Alright!”

Sejun blinks. “Don’t I get a say--”

Byungchan spins around and slaps the  _ Visitor  _ sticker on the front of his raggedy costume. “Not while you’re Spiderman, you don’t. Straighten your back, we’re going to go visit the kids now.”

“Wait--” Sejun sputters as Byungchan guides him away from the receptionist desk.

“I hope you can see in that mask.”

“Bye, Spiderman!” Seungsik waves with a bright smile as they start walking down the halls. “See you in a bit!”

“By the way, by any chance, can you do a backflip?”

“You didn’t say anything about backflips!” Sejun exclaims.

“Oh, that’s okay, you don’t need to. Let’s go visit our first kid.”

“Byungchan,  _ wait!”  _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_ Oh god.  _

Byungchan is staring at him with a bright smile and twinkling eyes after having just introduced him as Spiderman to a child sitting in a hospital bed. There are all sorts of wires and tubes attached to the small child’s body, and Sejun would feel bad if he wasn’t standing there, frozen under the kid’s unblinking gaze.

The small boy’s eyes are wide as he stares Sejun down and Sejun knows, he knows, that this kid is seeing through him. He knows that there’s no real Spiderman underneath this mask. He hears a nurse giggle behind him and Byungchan, who’s kneeling by the child’s bed, gives him a sharp gazes.

_ “Spiderman…?” _ he hisses out through his teeth.

“Oh, um,” Sejun shakes himself out of his nerves and manages to get out, “hey, bud! I’m… I’m Spiderman!”

The boy gasps and Sejun thinks that he’s going to start crying now. He’s going to be so disappointed that it's Sejun standing there awkwardly, and not Spiderman, that he’s going to cry and Sejun will have to shamefully walk all the way back to--

“Spiderman!” the boys exclaims.

Even through the hazy film covering his eyes, Sejun can see the boy light up. And to Sejun’s surprise, he looks excited.  _ Enthralled  _ even that Sejun is here looking like fifty cent Spiderman, with no real webs to shoot out of his hands.

“That’s… that’s me!” Sejun exclaims again, although happier and peppier. He has some confidence now as he walks over to Byungchan’s side. “What’s your name, pal?”

“My name is Jinwoo!” he says immediately. “I’m six!”

“Whoa, six! What do you have all on your body here, Jinwoo?” 

And briefly, Sejun can feel Byungchan’s scandalized gaze before Jinwoo answers, “It’s a lot of stuff. Mama says that it’s going to help me get better.” Jinwoo shrugs.

Sejun nods and hums. “Wow, that is a lot. Well! You must be very strong then! Look at all the stuff your body is doing to get better!” 

“Me?” Jinwoo repeats, eyes getting wider. “Strong?”

“Oh, super strong! You’ll have to help me fight next time, okay? I need somebody strong like you to help me! Do you think that you can come out to help me when you’re all better?” 

Jinwoo grins brightly and says, “Of course!”

“Awesome! Until then, I have a gift for you, buddy.”

And after Sejun has handed him a gift and the two have exited the room and are continuing down the hospital halls, Byungchan looks over at him to speak.

“Hey, that was… kind of cool.”

“Hm?” Sejun turns his head to look at him but there’s no expression on his faded mask.

Byungchan laughs a little and then punches him lightly on the arm. “I know I kind of shanghai’d you into doing this so I wasn’t expecting much. Like, the kids would have been happy with a cardboard cutout of Spiderman but… what you did back there for Jinwoo was kind of cool.”

Sejun blinks behind his mask. “Did what? You mean call him strong and stuff? It’s not that big of a deal, I don’t think. Like isn’t it cliche of me to say that?”

“Yeah,” Byungchan smiles, “but it’s different when it comes from Spiderman. You know?” 

Something about the way Byungchan smiles at him with those prominent dimples makes Sejun’s body fill with a certain confidence.

He hadn’t thought he was going to make a very good Spiderman either, going into it. But after getting talking to each kid personally and encouraging them, Sejun thinks that maybe he’s a pretty okay Spiderman after all. At least, he’s pretty good at acting like one. 

He discovers that giving some kids a firm handshake from who they think is Spiderman is more than enough to make their day. He meets some older kids who can tell he’s not Spiderman, and they ask him a lot of questions about it, but he somehow manages to slip through with a couple of jokes. The younger ones are much more excited to meet him, even the small babies that are carried by their mothers and Sejun wonders how such a small body can fight something like cancer. 

(And while he does not know how to do a backflip, he can do a pretty good side flip and Byungchan is just one of the many people who are impressed when he does on in the hospital hallway.)

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“I think that’s it for presents.” Sejun stares down at the now empty tote bag he holds. He isn’t quite sure how much time has passed since he and Byungchan started going around to rooms, but the first few golden rays of dusk are showing and Sejun feels absolutely tired. “Do we have to sign out at reception before we go?”

_ “Yes  _ but we still have one more person to visit.” Byungchan smiles at him sideways. “It’s just a little farther, follow me.”

Sejun follows obediently and after a few moments, he asks, “Hey, how often do you do this?”

“Do what?” 

“Visit the kids in the children’s hospital. It seems like most of them recognize you.” 

When Sejun thinks about the bright smile that Byungchan greets every child with, it almost seems like a different person from the moody, spiteful cashier worker he had met a few days prior. And when he really thinks about it, he thinks that maybe if they had met under circumstances like this, he wouldn’t be biting back the urge to ask him out for coffee later.

“Oh.” Byungchan grins a little sheepishly. “Yeah, I guess I’m here often. Or at least I try to be, between working as a cashier and all.”

“Oh, so you’re  _ not  _ the manager?” Sejun says playfully.

Byungchan scoffs out a laugh and says, “Shut up. I’m basically the manager of that place. But yeah, I come here really often.”

Sejun nods. “That’s really cool though. You know someone here?” 

Byungchan pauses in front of a door and mulls over his answer for a second, resting his hand on the doorknob. He smiles at Sejun and makes a shrugging motion. “Something like that.” 

Sejun wants to ask more and he probably would have if Byungchan doesn’t open the door at that moment. His face breaks into the biggest smile Sejun has ever seen, one that’s framed by dimples, as he walks in and in that moment, Sejun hears somebody from inside the room squeal.

“Oppa!” 

“Yena!” 

And as Sejun comes in, he finds that Byungchan is giving the little girl in the bed the biggest and tightest hug he’s ever seen. He spots that the name on the door indicates that this room belongs to  _ Choi Yena. Choi? Like Byungchan? _ It hits him all in one moment that this is Byungchan’s sister.

He stands in the doorframe and looks at how bright Byungchan’s eyes are as he strokes the small girl’s head. They look similar, even though she looks so much frailer on the bed. Her eyes positively sparkle as she starts rambling to him and Byungchan looks as though he can never hear enough as he kneels by her side. 

It’s not until he realizes that they’re both staring at him that he figures out that Byungchan had just introduced him as Spiderman.

“Oh-- h-hey!” He straightens up immediately as he moves to kneel at the other side of Yena’s bed. “Are you Yena?”

Yena’s jaw drops and she squeezes Byungchan’s hand. “Oppa! Oppa, Spiderman knows my name!”

“That’s right,” Byungchan chuckles, “he does. I asked Spiderman really hard for him to come visit and he said he was so busy.” His eyes flicker to Sejun and then he continues, “But after I told Spiderman that  _ Choi Yena _ was here? Oh, he couldn’t get here fast enough.”

Gasping, Yena whips over to look at Sejun and asks, “Is that true?! You came to see me?!” She’s missing her front tooth.

“Yeah,” Sejun says with a confident nod. “I heard you were the strongest girl here and that you can help me defeat all the criminals in town. Is that true?” 

Yena nods so fast that Sejun is afraid that her other tooth is about to come out. He laughs and holds her other hand as she begins talking about how good she is at aiming and how she’s sure that she can punch out anybody that Spiderman asks her to. 

Sejun just about lets her talk his ear off and he’s not quite sure how long she’s been talking but at some point, he notices that Byungchan isn’t looking at her anymore, instead he’s looking at him. Byungchan is gazing at him with the softest and most endeared smile that Sejun has ever seen. He doesn’t know how long he’s been staring but Sejun knows that with this mask on, Byungchan can’t tell that Sejun can tell.

What a nice smile it is, Sejun thinks.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It’s not until they’ve signed out from the reception desk and are just resting on an outdoor bench in front of the hospital that Sejun finally takes off his mask and takes a deep breath of the fresh air. 

“Here.”

Sejun takes the water bottle that Byungchan hands him with a grateful nod and drinks about half of it before he says, “So it’s because of your sister.”

“Hm?”

“Yena. That was your sister, wasn’t it?” Sejun smiles at him. “That’s the reason you’re here so often. It’s why you cared so much whether or not I donated to the children’s hospital cancer research center. Right?”

Byungchan has the grace to look embarrassed as he rubs the nape of his neck. “Well, yeah,” he chuckles. “You hit the nail on the head. This place is really important to me. And so are the kids.”

“Especially Yena?”

Rolling his eyes, Byungchan replies in a teasing tone, “Well, I suppose it could be because of Yena.” 

They laugh together for a moment and Sejun drinks the rest of the water bottle. Crushing the plastic in his hands nervously, he runs his hands through his hair and leans forward to rest his elbows on his knees. 

“I think it’s really cool,” he says after a moment, “that you spend a lot of time here, doing your best to make sure these kids are as happy as they can be. I really admire it.”

“Thanks,” Byungchan replies quietly.

“And…” Sejun almost laughs at himself. “I guess… if you wanted me to dress up as someone again, I wouldn’t say no.”

The way Byungchan looks over to him really does have Sejun laughing out loud this time and Byungchan even manages to laugh a little bit before he’s saying, “Really?!” in disbelief. “You would? I thought for sure you’d run and never and want to see me ever again after this.”

“That was the plan,” Sejun jokes. “Until you dragged me through all of this. And then I realized maybe you weren’t such an annoying guy after all.”

Byungchan laughs out loud again and Sejun thinks there’s something really nice about his laugh. Nice enough for him to want to keep hearing it, anyways.

“So, uh, by any chance…” Sejun watches Byungchan’s face carefully, “could I take you out for some coffee maybe?” 

Byungchan smirks at him and says, “What--so you can  _ not  _ spend your money on the children’s hospital cancer research center,  _ again?”  _

“Oh, come on!” 

Byungchan laughs as he stands up and then offers a hand towards Sejun. “I guess that just means I’ll be the one paying then.” He winks.

With a grin, Sejun takes his hand and thinks that maybe he can get used to this whole Spiderman thing.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Are you free Saturday next week also?”

“Yeah, I will be.”

“Cool, we’ll do this again then!”

“One thing though--don’t you think that if I’m going to be Spiderman from now on we should invest in a costume that’s worth more than fifty cents?”

“Oh… so about that. Well, Spiderman seems like he’s two busy to come two weeks in a row, right?”

“Okay.”

“And besides some of the kids want to see different people.”

_ “Okay.” _

“So… how do you feel about being Elsa next week--” 

“No.”

“The costume will fit this time!” 

**Author's Note:**

> tbh idk where this came from but did u know i love choi byungchan  
> in my head, sejun rlly do show up as elsa sometime later lolol
> 
> anyways i hope u enjoyed! i had a lot of fun writing! pls leave me a nice comment while ur here! ; v ;  
> see u next time!!!
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/kkulseoki) | [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/quinseok)


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